Ad usum Delphini

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The Delphin Classics or Ad usum Delphini was a series of annotated editions of the Latin classics, intended to be comprehensive, which was originally created in the 17th century.

The first volumes were created in the 1670s for Louis, le Grand Dauphin, heir of Louis XIV (“Delphini” is the Latinization (genitive) of Dauphin), and were written entirely in Latin. Thirty-nine scholars contributed to the series, which was edited by Pierre Huet with assistance from several co-editors, including Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and Anne Dacier.{{Cite Nuttall|title=Delphin Classics}} The main features included the main Latin texts; a paraphrase in the margins or below in simpler Latin prose (an ordo verborum); extended notes on specific words and lines, mainly about history, myth, geography, or natural sciences; and indices. One useful pedagogical feature of this series is that it keeps students reading and working in the target language (Latin).[http://blogs.dickinson.edu/dcc/2013/03/04/favorite-commentaries-terence-tunberg/ "Favorite Commentaries: Terence Tunberg"] in Dickinson Classical Commentaries Blog March 4, 2013 accessed on Jan. 23, 2019.

The original volumes each had an engraving of Arion and a dolphin, accompanied by the inscription in usum serenissimi Delphini (for the use of the most serene Dauphin). The collection includes 64 volumes published from 1670 to 1698.Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/hedu_0221-6280_1997_num_74_1_2916 "La collection Ad usum Delphini : entre érudition et pédagogie."] In: Histoire de l'éducation. n° 74, 1997. Les Humanités classiques, sous la direction de Marie-Madeleine Compère et André Chervel. pp. 203-214. Volpilhac-Auger says the volumes were published mainly between 1673 and 1691, but that the last appeared in 1730.{{Cite web|url=https://vivariumnovum.it/risorse-didattiche/pratica-didattica/classici-latini-edizione-monolingue|title=Classici latini in edizione monolingue | Edizioni Accademia Vivarium Novum|website=vivariumnovum.it|access-date=2019-01-23|archive-date=2021-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006235535/https://vivariumnovum.it/risorse-didattiche/pratica-didattica/classici-latini-edizione-monolingue|url-status=dead}}Volpilhac-Auger, Catherine, Martine Furno, and Université de Grenoble 3. 2005. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUTjcLQ4vhsC La Collection Ad Usum Delphini.] Des Princes. Grenoble: ELLUG.

Beginning in 1819, a different series of Latin classics was published in England under the name Valpy's Delphin Classics by Abraham John Valpy.[http://www.publishinghistory.com/delphin-classics-valpy.html Delphin Classics (A. J. Valpy) - Book Series List], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved on 1 April 2017. That series was edited by George Dyer, who divided up the works of the same authors into 143 volumes. This series mainly reprinted the commentary of the original Ad usum Delphini series, with updated texts and bibliographies from editions published in the intervening century. Both series were popular in Europe and the Americas. The first American edition was published in Philadelphia in 1804{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ0aAQAAMAAJ | title=C. Julii Cæsaris quæ extant, interpretatione et notis | last1=Caesar | first1=Julius | year=1804 }} while one European edition was published in Bassan as late as 1844.{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DjnUZlJwO8MC | title=Q. Horatii Flacci opera interpretatione et notis illustravit Ludovicus Desprez ... In usum serenissimi delphini | year=1844 }}

Editors of the Ad usum Delphini consciously censored classical works, deleting from the main texts passages they deemed obscene.{{Citation |last=Hollewand |first=Karen E. |title=Scholarship |date=2019-03-11 |work=The Banishment of Beverland |pages=109–168 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004396326/BP000015.xml |access-date=2024-08-21 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-39632-6}}{{Cite book |title=Classical Scholarship and Its History |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110719215/pdf?licenseType=restricted#page=47 |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=www.degruyter.com | date=2021 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110719215 | isbn=978-3-11-071921-5 | editor-last1=Harrison | editor-last2=Pelling | editor-first1=Stephen | editor-first2=Christopher }} The expression Ad usum Delphini is therefore sometimes used to refer to other texts which were expurgated because they contained passages considered inappropriate for the target audience (such as the youth).{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b_VPAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22phrase+has+come+to+mean+an+expurgated%22&pg=PA5 |title=A Literary Manual of Foreign Quotations, Ancient and Modern: With Illustrations from American and English Authors and Explanatory Notes |date=1890 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |page=5 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=McNicol |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHpFMkrFCYgC&q=delphini&pg=PA91 |title=Forbidden Fruit: The Censorship of Literature and Information for Young People : Conference Proceedings |date=2008 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-59942-480-4 |page=95 |language=en}}